


Until My Dying Day

by Anath_Tsurugi



Series: The Winter Soldier [6]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M, team fic, they all have kids, winter soldier - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-06
Updated: 2014-04-11
Packaged: 2017-12-14 03:07:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/831998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anath_Tsurugi/pseuds/Anath_Tsurugi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After nearly twenty years, Thanos finally makes his move against Earth's Mightiest. For their own world, and for all worlds, the Avengers must make a stand...with the help of the next generation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. My Name Is...

**Hel Lokidottir** , whether or not she was entirely aware of it, was the oldest of the pack. Born five minutes earlier, she never missed an opportunity to remind her twin brother that _she_ was the older one. It was also, however, a role she took seriously. Her father's chief command to her had always been, "Protect your brothers. We have no one but each other and it is up to you to keep them safe." Considering her own double form, it was a command she could take very much to heart. While they all had Jotunn forms and her brothers had animal forms, her own alternate form was something very different. If glanced sideways, out of the corner of the eye, she became like some creature of nightmare, something terrifying to behold…but then one would turn to actually look and she would be as she had always been. She was a creature of night, of darkness, and it suited her. The hand that dared to harm her brothers would never see her coming, fangs and claws prepared. Hel was devoted.

**Fenrir Lokison** played the role of a younger sibling well. He was very playful, as befitted his wolf form. He kept his older twin from getting too serious…or too murderous. Even though their father had trained all three of them as fighters, Fen was never one for battle. He was more like their father: a prankster. He was the ray of sunshine in an otherwise dark and gloomy existence. He was the source of love Loki and his other children would die to protect. Fenrir was loving.

**Balder Thorson** was the best of both his parents. Thor had trained him in combat and he was just as smart as Jane. Even though he never talked about it with his parents, he preferred the things his mother taught him over what he learned from his father. At heart, he was a scholar, not a fighter, but he also understood that he'd been born to certain responsibilities, unlike the children of the other Avengers. He had a home in Midgard and a name among his mother's people, Benton Blaze Foster, but he never forgot that he would one day be king of Asgard. As far as the pack of Avenger children knew, Balder was the oldest; he acted like it and they treated him like it. They were all like his own little band and he protected them, as a prince and older brother should, regardless of what he might want for himself. Balder was self-sacrificing.

**Zasha Ruslana Romanova** witnessed her first explosion when she was four. She'd been playing hide and seek with the other children in Stark Tower and she ventured up to the R &D levels to hide. Okay, technically she wasn't allowed up there, but Balder was going to find her otherwise, and she just _couldn't_ lose her reputation as the greatest hider the tower had ever seen. As she'd wandered, a nearby door had suddenly blown clean off its hinges and Uncle Tony had come stumbling out a few seconds later, coughing, followed in short order by Uncle Bruce, who had Hulked out after whatever had happened in the lab. The giant green monster had gotten a slightly concerned look on his face when he'd spotted her, but Uncle Tony had just waved and said, "Hi, Russ." The little girl had been spellbound. From then on, she'd spent every waking moment trying to figure out how to "make stuff go BOOM!" Concerned, her parents had finally taken her to Tony and he'd sat her down and explained to her, "Now, Russ, if you want to blow things up, we need to do it in a safe environment with the right equipment." There had been no turning back after that. Russ was tenacious.

**Chase Han Lewis** had three mothers and one father. Two of his mothers, Darcy and Sinthea, were married on paper, and both were considered to be the women of Sif in Asgard. While his father wasn't part of the love fest, he was still his father, and all four of them loved him. While he also had an Asgardian name, Bjorn Fandralson, he was not quite as burdened by his heritage as Balder was. Chase mostly took after his biological mother. He went smiling through the day, always positive, saying that there was enough anger in the realms without him adding to it for no reason. He didn't even mind the Asgardian nickname he'd received from his two Asgardian parents, Nalle, which meant something like 'teddy bear' in their language. His Asgardian name meant 'bear', but anyone who knew him wouldn't typically consider him a bear. Oh, but hurt one of his friends/siblings and you'd better run for cover. Bjorn would emerge from Nalle in a heartbeat. This was only on rare occasions, though. Chase was normally a very gentle soul, and was only brought to anger by a threat to the people he cared about. Chase was kind.

**Phillip Steven Stark** was a boy after the Stark clan's heart. He was charismatic, reckless, smart, a bit of a bastard…he was a Stark and he knew it, for which Tony was grateful, as he'd complained loudly and bitterly over Pepper's wish to name their son after a certain agent when said agent was clearly not dead and therefore unavailable to serve as a namesake. Tony Stark didn't want a mini-Coulson running around the tower. He was instead blessed with his own mini-me. Phillip and Russ were often partners in mayhem. When something blew up, a floor was found covered in jello or grasshoppers, or everyone found their left shoe missing, Phillip and Russ could usually be found hidden in a supply closet, giggling with delight. The other Avengers would try to rein in the two unholy terrors, but the trouble was that Tony, and sometimes Thor and Clint, encouraged their behavior. Phillip was just as smart as Tony had been at his age and he always found new ways of getting around the restrictions his mother and the others tried to place on them. Phillip was clever.

**Noelle Elizabeth Ross** was the girliest girl to ever girl. She was the first to fit the mold of what the Avengers had expected for a baby girl. Russ wanted timers and dynamite for her birthday, but Noelle was happy with pink dresses, sparkly nail polish, and pretty crowns. Her room was decorated with Disney princess paraphernalia and she always liked to pretend that Stark Tower was _her_ tower and she was the princess. Whatever else she was, her father was just relieved that his daughter had dodged a bullet with his gamma tendencies. It was the reason it had taken Betty so long to convince him to try having kids. Thankfully, though, Noelle never exhibited any violent tendencies, or even a taste for violence, as several of the other children inevitably seemed to. In fact, as she got older, she developed a knack for performing. She loved singing, dancing, acting, music, all of it, anything she could set her heart to. She always said she loved to see people smile when they watched her perform. Noelle was giving.

**Jormungand Lokison** seemed to be fatherless. Unlike the twins, who received very clear pictures of who their fathers were, the youngest of Loki's brood was denied that knowledge. Even though he would often ask, all Loki would ever tell him was that he was happier not knowing. So he went on with his life, resigned to the fact that he'd probably never know the man. They often called him Jory, and even though he was the baby of the little family, he never acted like it. Sometimes, it seemed to Loki that his youngest son had been grown when he was born. He'd never cried as a baby, didn't laugh much, despite Fen's best efforts. Like his alternate form, a snake, he was quiet and watchful, and when not quiet, he was harsh and angry. Resigned or not, it didn't mean he was happy that half of his heritage was missing. If anyone was the baby of the family, it was Fenrir, and like Hel, Jory was protective of his older brother. Jory was hard.

**Howard James Stark** was a momma's boy. He was about as different from his brother as was humanly possible. The only thing the two Stark siblings had in common was that neither of them was anything like their namesake. If Steve, the only one of them who had really known Howard Stark Senior, hadn't been there when Howie was born and watched him grow up, he never would have believed they were related. Howie had Pepper's strawberry blonde hair and he was very shy and polite. Tony always said it was like having a mini-Steve Rogers in the tower. Howie looked up to Uncle Steve for more than just mannerisms and ideals, though. He came across Steve sketching one day, Steve put the paper and pencil in his hands and the rest was history. Everything Howie couldn't say with words came out on the paper. His wonder, curiosity, and wisdom burst forth in shades of black and white and splashes of color, and he'd shown them all things they'd never realized he'd seen. Howie was observant.

**Rosette Synthia Ross** was six the first time she Hulked out. Years later, no one could really remember what the trouble had been, but one minute, sweet little Rosie was standing there crying…and the next, a five foot tall Hulkling was standing where she'd been. Bruce was too shocked and horrified to stop the near rampage she'd gone on. It had taken her adoptive older sister, Shanta, along with Steve, Bucky, _and_ Balder to contain her. Although, if they were all honest, that first time was the only instance she ever had trouble controlling the beast in her DNA. The fact of the Hulk in her genes wasn't a burden to Rosette as it was to her father. It was just who she was…how she'd been born. She was very comfortable in the green skin her father had gifted her with. Rosette was playful.

**Marian Robin Coulson** wasn't supposed to be given that name. Maria and Phil argued for about nine months over what to name their daughter. Phil had argued for Stephanie, but Maria had fought just as hard against that, as she was well aware the only reason Phil wanted it was because it was as close to Steven as he could get, and she was absolutely not going to have _that_ be the reason for their child's name. Then, in a stroke of romantic brilliance, Phil had offered up Marian, which the hormonal mother-to-be had been able to accept. On the girlie spectrum, Marian was caught somewhere between Russ and Noelle. She had her own fairytale phase, but it was never just princesses she was interested in. She liked the heroes. What better environment for such a little girl? She learned how to handle modern weapons from her parents, and she learned about archery and sword-fighting from Clint, Sif, and Fandral. A fighter through and through…with a fashion sense taught to her by Pepper Stark and Noelle Ross. Marian was versatile.

**Fiona Eileen Foster** preferred her human name to her Asgardian one, Freya Thordottir. Like Chase, she was not so torn between their two worlds as her big brother was, though it was expected she would take her place as one of Asgard's sorcerers when she was old enough, as she possessed an ability that had not been seen among the Asgardians for a long time: she could heal with the power of her song. Odin's advisors were constantly on Jane to allow her daughter to live in Asgard in order to train further in magic, but Jane always insisted she was already losing one child to them. Why did she have to give up the other one? Besides, none of this meant much to Fiona at only ten. She preferred to get lost in her books, as she loved to read. It was just a nice bonus that she could heal all of her siblings' tiny scrapes and bumps whenever she sang. With her ability, she was beginning to develop a little of her brother's attitude…that the rest of the pack was somehow in her care. Fiona was caring.

**Lily Margaret Rogers** is only a name. Right now, all the Avengers family knows about this child is that she's a girl. After the joy of having Makoto and Eve in their lives, Steve and Bucky had decided they wanted to do it again. While Steve had suggested adoption, Bucky had done him one better…do what they knew Loki had done: use magic in order to create a child of theirs inside his body. The process hadn't been easy, but James Buchanan Rogers had never known from easy. Only the worst part is still to come. Lily is about to be born.


	2. Petals Unfurled

As their numbers grew, it was progressively stranger and stranger to find the entire Avengers family all gathered in one room. Rarer still was the room that _could_ contain all of them. Thank God for Stark Tower.

Rather, though, it would be more accurate to say that they were all present in the one living room except for Steve and Bucky, who were back in their own room with Mimir, working through the final stages of Bucky's decidedly bizarre pregnancy. The core members of the super hero group were all anxious for some news of their friends, and the pack of Avenger offspring had all insisted on skipping whatever school or extracurricular activities they might have had in order to be here to welcome their newest member. Some of them were starting to a get a little impatient, though.

"God, how long can a magic labor take? It's not like he actually has to give birth or anything," Russ griped. The seventeen-year-old had her small body tucked into a ball as she rolled around on the floor. "Doesn't he just…I dunno…magic the kid out or something?"

"Labor isn't easy, Zash, no matter how you slice it," Natasha told her daughter, fixing her with a hard stare. Suitably chastised, Russ slumped out of her ball and sat still…as still as she could, anyway.

"Gotta stay positive, Russ," Phillip Stark reminded his partner in crime. "After all, we _are_ still gonna turn this kid into an unholy terror, just like we were," he finished, swooping in for a high-five.

"And still are," Noelle Ross said, rolling her eyes. "Besides, that plan is _never_ going to work."

"Oh? And why's that?" Russ asked, raising an eyebrow at the sixteen-year-old.

"This is Uncle Steve's daughter we're talking about here. Lily Rogers is going to be a lady."

"Well, that's no fun," her little sister, Rosie, grumbled.

"Says the girl who considers rolling around in the mud fun," Noelle jibed playfully.

The fourteen-year-old stuck her tongue out at her older sister. "You ought to try it sometime. After all, it's…very good for your skin," she said with a flourish, striking a catwalk pose and fluttering her eyelashes. Darcy started to clap as Rosie continued her little mock performance.

"Yeah! Work it, li'l Rose!"

Noelle gave a half-serious 'humph' at her sister's antics before turning her attention to Balder, who was playing a game of chess with Mako, a game neither of them was really paying attention to.

"What do _you_ think, Balder?"

"About what? Rosie's infant modeling career?" he asked, glancing at the younger girl and exchanging joking smiles with her. "No way that'll ever make number one."

"No, about Lily. What do you think Lily will be like?"

"I think she'll be how she'll be and we'll love her just the same, no matter what. A sister is a sister. Though, if you're basing your argument purely on the fact that she's Uncle Steve's daughter, you're forgetting who her other dad is. Lily's Uncle _Bucky's_ daughter, too."

Noelle stood with an odd look on her face for several minutes before giving a single nod and a shrug. "I stand corrected."

"She's going to be adorable, one way or the other," Chase said, a slightly dreamy expression on his face as he looked up from his homework.

"Leave it to the teddy bear to be cute and cuddly," Phillip said, snickering quietly.

"Phillip," Pepper threw her son a warning look before his teasing could escalate.

"It's okay, Aunt Pepper. I don't mind," Chase said, still smiling. "He's not trying to be mean."

"Well that's debatable," Russ said with a chuckle of her own, tucking herself back into a ball.

"He might not be, but _I_ certainly am," Clint said, swooping in to pick up his daughter, who was still light as a feather at seventeen, tiny and skinny as a rail. Russ near shrieked with laughter, somehow managing to stay tucked into a ball as she was lifted into her father's arms.

"Ooh, are we playing toss the Russ?" Mako asked, looking up from the chess game in interest.

Clint nodded. "Here, catch," he called out, actually throwing Russ the short distance to his fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. The thirty-one-year-old was up from the table faster than the eye could track, easily catching the redhead's balled up form in his arms.

"Who's next?" Mako called out. Balder also stood from the table and took several steps back, holding out his arms. Russ laughed as she went flying through the air again.

"Well, this is boring. What are the rest of us non-super soldier freaks supposed to do for fun?" Tony put in.

"You could always be the next ball," Clint suggested with a smirk and a shrug.

"Yeah, cuz that's exactly how I planned to spend my afternoon. Playing a ball for a couple of guys to handle."

"Let us not make fun. Handling balls is a most enjoyable experience," Fandral said with a smirk.

" _Definitely_ not having that conversation with _you_ , Tinkerbell," the billionaire said without even missing a beat.

Eve glanced up from helping Marian with her math homework, sighing as she watched the two men banter. Then she looked over to where Howie was supposed to be working on his chemistry homework. Unfortunately, but not entirely unexpected, the youngest Stark had abandoned his schoolwork in favor of his sketchbook. Eve caught a brief glimpse of a sketch of Russ, laughing as she flew through the air.

"You sure your dad doesn't get somebody to write his material for him?" the twenty-two-year-old asked her surrogate little brother.

"Nope," Howie said without looking up from his work. "That's just the Starks through and through. Your dad says Grandpa Howard was like that, too."

"Not you, though."

"Pretty much," Howie said, still not looking up.

Sometimes Eve wondered where Howie would end up, being an artist in a family of mechanical wizards. It was a little like her own situation. All of her "siblings," the generation of initiates S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers had rescued from the Red Room, had become S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, after a fashion. Belle was an intelligence agent with the codename Liberty Belle. After all, who better to gather secrets than a psychic? Mako was a field agent with the codename Tsurugi. Aiden wasn't a field agent, so he had no codename, but he was well qualified to take over for his mother as the head of biotech research. Shanta was the most recent of their number to become a field agent. She'd taken her codename from Uncle Bruce's childhood nickname for her…his little tiger. So Shanta became the White Tiger. Jarah was also not a field agent, though he certainly had the training to be one. Jarah was following his father's footsteps into upper management. He was actually Belle, Mako, and Shanta's handler. Eve's problem wasn't that she _didn't_ belong; it was that she _wanted_ to. She wanted to be able to join her siblings in the field when she was fully qualified, but Mako and their two fathers had been trying to dissuade from joining up. She had long been the de facto babysitter of the pack of Avenger and S.H.I.E.L.D. offspring and her family had been encouraging her to go into childcare, but anything less than S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't feel like she was fulfilling her true potential. Though, with a new sibling arriving, perhaps there wouldn't be as much nagging as there had been in recent weeks. All of the worry their family had to spare was for little Lily.

Just then, Mimir emerged from the hallway that led to the living quarters of the tower. All activity ceased as the extensive family waited for the sorcerer to speak.

"Lily Stevendottir has been born. Both she and James are doing well. Eve? Makoto? You may go back and see them if you wish."

Eve and Mako looked at each other, both wearing excited smiles on their faces. As they stood, Fiona jumped up from her English homework and cheered.

"Yay! I'm not the baby anymore!"

"Oh, we'll see about that, little worm," Phillip teased her. The two adopted Rogers children didn't hear what followed that, though, as they were already moving past Mimir and down the hallway toward their parents' room.

The first thing they heard was the sound of their new baby sister burbling sweetly. Then they were actually standing in the doorway.

It was almost strange…to see their big, strong father holding a tiny baby, but the oddness of the scene was negated by the smile on his face. Steve Rogers sat beside his husband on their bed and they were both focused intently on the little girl as Bucky fed her formula from a bottle.

"Guess it's time for another tattoo, huh?" Mako interrupted quietly, smiling when both their parents looked up at them with joy in their eyes.

"Guess so. What's it going to be this time?" Steve asked as their two children approached the bed.

"That's easy. A lily."

Mako had two tattoos on his back, one at each shoulder for each sister. Yuki, his biological sister, who had been murdered by 2R a long time ago, had a cherry blossom on his left shoulder, and Eve had a rose on his right shoulder. Lily would have her namesake directly between the two. As Mako had been enhanced by the super soldier serum, normal tattooing wouldn't take to his skin, so Dr. Sinthea Lewis had developed a cell-dying process that would allow this one wish to be granted.

"I don't think she'll be awake much longer. She's goin' fast. You'd better come meet her while you can," Bucky said, setting the nearly empty bottle aside after Lily let it slip from her mouth. He replaced the bottle with a burp cloth, laying it over his shoulder. Lily yawned as he brought her head up to rest against the cloth, starting to burp her.

"Hello," Eve cooed to the baby, reaching forward to stroke the peach fuzz on top of her head. "Hello, Lily. You are the most beautiful baby sister. You have no idea how exciting it is to finally have some estrogen in this family."

All three men had a good chuckle at this before Mako moved in beside Eve to pat Lily's chubby cheek.

"Hey, there, Lil. Good to see you. The others are all really excited to meet you, so don't nap too long, yeah?"

Just then, Lily's little face scrunched up in discomfort and she burped, spitting up onto the cloth. Mako chuckled in a pained sort of way as he wiped a small drop of spit up from his face.

"Got some range on that one. Definitely a baby sister."

The four of them all had a good laugh at that and even so, Lily managed to fall asleep almost instantly, exhausted from the whole trying process of being born.

XxX

**One month later and worlds away**

**Prison Moon Zalnkaras**

A line of guards stood along the entrance to the stone fortress, blocking all access. From a distance, three cloaked figures surveyed the layout, plotting the move they were about to make.

"So what do you think, Sis?" the second figure asked the first, who crouched at the head of the group.

"I think it's all for show. No one's tried to break in here for a long time," a cold feminine voice answered.

"No one's foolish enough," the third figure said, his serious tone still a little boyish, clearly younger than the first two.

"No one but us," the second figure pointed out. He was obviously enjoying the situation.

"Granted. This is certainly the hardest challenge we've ever faced. Father won't be pleased if we fail," the first said.

"Hel, if we fail, there won't be anyone _left_ to be displeased…not even Father," the second said, his light, joking manner slipping into something more sober at the mention of their father.

"True, so we had better not make a mess of this," the first figure said, drawing the twin swords strapped to her back. Even as she drew, the other two were shifting form, becoming a large wolf and snake respectively. Once the change was complete, the first of them, clearly their leader, leapt onto the wolf's back and the snake slithered up, coiling its body around her shoulders. Then she raised her weapons and the wolf leapt high into the air. He could cover the distance to the gate in a few easy bounds.

As the three figures descended upon their opponents, the first threw her head back, an unearthly battle shriek issuing forth from the confines of her hood, electrifying the night air with terror. The wolf joined her bloodlust call with a joyful howl.

The enemies of Loki's children would know fear this night.

The line of guards let loose a volley of fire from their beam weapons, but the wolf was too quick for them, carrying the other two through the line of fire. Once clear, Hel Lokidottir leapt free of her brother's back, using her momentum to fling her youngest brother free in the same movement. Jormungand Lokison slid down the flat of his sister's blade, briefly hurtling through the air before wrapping his sinuous snake body around the neck of one of the guards, squeezing hard enough to snap his spine.

In the same moment, Hel buried her swords into two beating hearts while her twin snapped his powerful jaws around the neck of a fourth guard. Fenrir Lokison then used his dead weight to take down two more, leaping upon their pinned bodies and ripping their throats out.

While Hel beheaded a seventh, an eighth grabbed a hold of Jory, who whipped his head through the air and clamped his fangs down on his jugular vein, pumping deadly venom into his system. Instantly, the guard dropped to his knees, screaming in agony. He was dead in moments. Slithering free of the corpse, Jory quickly shifted back to human form, just in time to fling two throwing knives into the eyes of the ninth, leaving him crippled enough for Hel to easily stab through the heart. She didn't see the tenth come upon her, but Fenrir had her back, pouncing the guard and ripping his heart out.

The rest tried to flee, but the three siblings were already upon them. The slaughter was over in moments; Loki's children were left standing in a sea of carnage. Fenrir gave one long howl of victory as they entered the fortress.

XxX

Loki Laufeyson had thought he had known pain. He had been cast into the abyss…used and betrayed by the people he loved…lied to all his life…tortured by new masters to make him into a stronger warrior…he had borne three children. He had known screaming agony in every fiber of his being. He _thought_ he had suffered so much.

He had thought wrong.

"Tell me, Asgardian…was I right? Was that pain sweet?" the cold voice of the Other hissed in his ear. Slowly, Loki nodded.

"I told you you couldn't escape. I _told_ you you couldn't hide. We did find you in the end…and I would say you have been suitably punished for the loss of the Tesseract…but that is not why you are here."

Barely managing to raise his head from the slab he was chained to, Loki looked to his tormentor as he circled the torture chamber. "What…what are…you _talking_ about?" he asked, his voice breaking on cracked lips.

"Your _children_ , Laufeyson, the Fated Ones…the children of Ragnarok. Where are they? Where are you hiding them?"

The pain that consumed the former prince's body was instantly replaced by shock and horror. It wasn't often that the liesmith would confess to being afraid. He was afraid now. Thanos wanted his children? Why? Would he use them to shape his own end to the cosmos?

Rather than let his fear show, though, Loki glared at the Other, fighting through the pain of his wounds. "You'll never find them. You will not _touch_ them!" he spat at him before clamping his mouth shut.

Sneering, the Other moved toward him, laying a hand against his face. "We found _you_ …didn't we?"

Then, before he could force another psychic attack on Loki's defenseless mind, a lone howl sounded through the dank air.

_Fen!_

A look of pleasure crossed the Other's face at the sound. "Ah. It seems we will not have to look for them after all. They have come to us…just as we'd hoped."

Loki's horror only grew worse as the realization swept over him. He had accomplished nothing by giving himself up to Thanos' forces. He'd thought he was allowing Hel, Fen, and Jory to escape this fate…but all he'd really done was allow himself to be used as the bait to trap them.

_What have I done?_

XxX

The rest of the fortress was about as challenging as the first line of guards…which should have been Hel's first clue something was amiss, given Thanos' reputation as a warlord, but the young woman was just that hung up on rescuing her father. She hadn't slept a night since he'd been captured, unable to free herself of the sight of him impaled on an electro-spear. Once the three siblings had fought their way through to the torture chambers, however, the sight they beheld was much worse.

Loki, their father, was in ruins. His hair and clothes were matted with blood and his skin was ravaged all over with injuries, from light scrapes all the way to deep gashes. Worst of all, though, was the look of helpless anger on his face.

"Run," he called weakly to them as they rushed forward to help him. "Just run…escape…before he comes back. Leave me."

"Never," Hel snarled, raising her blades and using them to break the chains that bound him. "Never would we leave you to die."

Loki was unable to stand on his own, so Fenrir and Jory quickly moved in to support him. All the while, the trickster glared at his daughter.

"Why did you come here?"

"We _had_ to."

"I warned you not to _come here!_ It wasn't about me. He was setting a trap for _you_. You've led your brothers into danger."

"More than you could ever realize, little ones," a new voice entered the chamber. Hel turned, whipping out her swords and keeping herself solidly positioned between her father, brothers, and the new threat.

She had seen images of Thanos before and he was about what she'd expected…an imposing alien figure dressed in grand robes and possessed of a near striking self-assuredness. He strode into the room with the Other at his side, leering at her all the while.

"What do you think of my little stronghold, Frostling?"

"It's smaller than I expected…given its reputation," the seventeen-year-old said, keeping a wary eye on her enemy.

"Mm, yes. Some of my greatest work has taken place here. In fact, I believe both of your fathers were shaped in this very chamber. The Frostling…and the Winter Soldier."

"Don't think you can get under my skin with that. James Barnes is nothing to me."

"No, no, no, of _course_ not. Nothing gets to Hel the ice queen. Although…your other father may be more to you than you realize."

"I seriously doubt it."

"We will see. In fact, we will see right now. Wolf boy…step away from your father."

"Fen, don't do it," Loki hissed, never taking his eyes off of Thanos.

"Do it…or I will kill your sister."

"Don't listen to him," Hel ordered. She didn't have to look back to be able to see the stricken look on her twin's face.

"Hel-"

"You won't be harmed; I promise you…but I make no guarantees on your sister if you don't do as I command."

"It is foolish…to throw yourself on a promise from Thanos," Loki warned his son…but he knew him too well to think he would do anything other than offer himself up in place of his sister.

Fenrir, for his part, said nothing, his decision already made, despite the protests from the others. In many ways, he was like the father he had never known. Keeping calm, he stepped away from Loki.

"Fen, no!" he cried out. He tried to hold onto his son, but he didn't have the strength. Jory had to hold him up as Fenrir moved cleared.

" _Fen!_ " Hel shouted as she turned. Just as her eyes fell on him, her twin was surrounded by a swirl of blue energy. In only a flash, her brother was gone.

" _Where is he?!_ " she screamed as she whirled to face Thanos once again.

"What did you do to my son?" Loki demanded, though the threat in his voice was somewhat less threatening in his weakened state.

"Your son…has gone back to the place where he began."

XxX

Fenrir's first instinct after being warped through space was to go wolf. As he had no idea where he would end up, it was best to come out guns blazing. Unfortunately, the boy just couldn't get his energies going properly when he rematerialized. Instead, he collapsed to his knees, battling fruitlessly against his spinning head.

"Whoa!"

"What the Hell?"

"Bucky, get the kids clear!"

"Hold on!"

"It's a kid! It's a kid! It's just a kid!"

The voices came from everywhere, all around him; he couldn't clear his vision enough to see anything.

"Tony, put your arm away! Don't shoot! It's a _kid!_ "

Slowly, a figure began to materialize from the chaos before his eyes…a tall figure with blue eyes and…was that blond or brown hair?

"Are you all right?"

"I…I am…my name…I'm…my name is…Fenrir Lokison," he finally managed to get the words out. "I…my family…where…am I?" was all Fen could manage before passing out cold.

No one was more shocked than Steve Rogers when his long lost son collapsed into his arms.


	3. Listen to My Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grr, okay, yeah, I'm supposed to be on hiatus, but now this bloody Winter Soldier movie's come out and I am just overcome by my Bucky/Steve feels, so I'll give myself a little relief. I know I haven't done anything for this universe in a while. I actually have a fair amount written, but as I said, I'm supposed to be on hiatus. Don't worry, haven't given up on it. Hope this offering will sate for the time being.

After Fenrir had collapsed, the first thing Steve had done was to carry him over to one of the couches in the living room. While everyone else had stood around in shock, Bucky had gone to fetch a blanket to cover the unconscious boy with.

"Steve…who is he?" Natasha asked.

"His name is Fenrir," Steve answered, making sure the boy was as comfortable as possible before turning to face the others with his husband. "He's my son."

For a moment, there was only dead silence in the room as they all stared at the super soldier in shock. The one to finally break that silence was Phillip, with a muttered, "Excuse me?"

Pepper was the one to start taking control of things by turning to Eve. "Eve…dear…I think you had better take the pack out for pizza tonight."

The children all protested, loudly and immediately.

"Hell no!"

"No way are we leaving!"

"What the fuck is this?"

" _Now_ please," Pepper stated firmly. "We'll talk later."

"Sure," Eve said with a nod before turning to her parents. "Do you want me to take Lily, too?"

"No," Bucky said. "The pack's enough of a handful. Lily'll be fine here."

"All right," she said, ushering the pack out of the living room. When Eve and the pack had cleared out, Bucky and Steve were left in the living room with their circle of friends and family, only a handful of whom knew about the truth Steve had just floored them all with.

"Okay, you might wanna rewind to the part where he's your _son,_ " Clint said, "'cuz I'm pretty sure I heard him say _Lokison_ just now."

"It's…complicated," Bucky started, his face reddening in shame at the memory of Fenrir's conception.

"So _un_ complicate it," Tony said. "That's some pretty heavy shit right there."

"Well…I don't suppose I need to ask if you remember when I was still under Loki's control and we had Steve prisoner?" Bucky asked, and when no one said otherwise, he continued. "He was…reversing the programming…to mess with both of us…and once when I was still myself…he made me fuck him while Steve watched," he said, not looking at any of them.

"And…what does that have to do with Fenrir being _Steve's_ son?" Bruce asked.

"We didn't realize it at first…never could have possibly imagined…but things started happening during the 2R incident. When my heart stopped…that happened because I'd given away my magic to save Fenrir. He was almost a stillborn and Loki didn't know what to do, so he called on me for help; I just didn't realize it. I only gave what he asked because I felt Steve was in danger, but it was really Fenrir. Even before that, I'd been having visions of twin children."

"Again, how is it Loki gave birth to Steve's child if _you're_ the one who had sex with him?" Maria asked, not thinking they could be any clearer on their confusion in that point.

"Steve and I had slept together, hardly an hour before it happened. What we're thinking happened is that…he took whatever Steve left inside of me…along with what I gave him…in order to conceive twins. Hel is my daughter…and Fenrir is Steve's son," Bucky said, briefly glancing back at the boy he'd dreamed of for so many years…Steve's child. He couldn't help wondering where his sister was.

"The thing Loki needed…that he got from both of you," Natasha said slowly.

"Exactly."

"But you don't know any of this for sure," Tony pointed out. "It could all be something you hallucinated during the incident."

"While that _might_ have been possible at first, we did come to discover the facts of the situation as time went by," Steve took up the narrative at this. "After the Aether incident…after Loki's supposed death…Thor came to us saying that before it had all begun, Loki had brought twin children to Asgard…Hel and Fenrir. He told Thor that Bucky and I were the fathers of those children…and that when he died, his last wish was for them to be brought to us."

"This is all true," Thor reassured them. "Only when I returned to Asgard in order to bring the children here, I found they had disappeared. We discovered why this was some six years later."

"Loki was never dead," Bucky continued. "He showed his face in a playground…and he had the two of them with him. He warned us not to look for them; then he disappeared again."

"But you kept looking," Betty said quietly.

"Of course we did. How could we not? They're our children," Steve said.

"I still have off world contacts…from my time as the Winter Soldier. We used some of them to try and get word, but we could never pin the bastard down."

"And now the kid just appears out of the blue," Clint said. "This could all be part of some sort of plot by Loki."

"Oh, we are all and aware of that, but we're not going to find out anything more until he wakes up," Steve said. "It doesn't seem to me that he ended up here on purpose, though."

"I'm just kinda shocked S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't know about any of this," Tony pointed out, glancing at Coulson and Maria, who both shook their heads.

"We didn't know any of this…not even before the collapse," Coulson said.

"You wouldn't have. We've never talked about it until now…not out loud anyway," Bucky said. "That was one of our own conditions. We only ever discussed the situation through psychic link…so that no one else ever _would_ find out. We weren't ready for S.H.I.E.L.D. to know that we had children by Loki, and really, can you blame us? Especially after the HYDRA incident."

Everyone in the room sort of silently agreed to that one. It had now been fourteen years since HYDRA had been outted as the parasite at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s core. The intelligence organization had since been rebuilt from the ground up with tighter control from Nick Fury and a much smaller, less beaurocratic system, but one could hardly be blamed for not trusting the original.

"I think we're all just feeling a little insulted you didn't trust _us_ with the situation," Tony said, speaking for all of them.

"We could have helped you," Pepper added.

"We didn't want to risk anyone. For all we knew, it could have been very dangerous for you to know," Steve explained. "The only ones who knew were Thor, Jane, Sif and the Warriors Three, and Mako and Eve. The kids were the only ones we actually told. All the others found out from Loki."

"And did it occur to anyone that our favorite psycho just might be showing up here if his kid's somehow landed on Earth by accident?" Clint pointed out.

"Yes, that had occurred to us," Bucky answered, "but like Steve said, we won't be learning anything else until Fenrir wakes up."

"Which might be happening right about now," Bruce pointed out, at which point they all turned to look at the boy sleeping on the couch, who was starting to stir. Steve immediately knelt beside the couch.

"A little room, please," Bucky requested. "We don't want him getting upset."

While everyone else waited anxiously, Fenrir slowly came about, shifting and tossing beneath the blanket.

"Hel…no… _Hel!_ " he shouted when his eyes finally shot open. His gaze darted around, but it almost immediately settled on Steve, and when he seemed to realize who he was looking at, his eyes widened. "Oh…oh…"

"Do you know who I am, Fenrir?" Steve asked. Slowly, the boy nodded.

"Yes. You're Steve Rogers. You're…you're my father."

"That's right. Fenrir…how did you get here? Where's the rest of your family?"

"I'm…not really sure," the boy said as he sat up, gingerly rubbing his forehead. "Our father was captured by Thanos. We went to his prison moon to try and rescue him, but it was really a trap for _us._ They _knew_ we would come."

"But why would he want you?"

"I don't know that either. I don't know where they are or if they're even still alive," he said, starting to sound upset.

"What happened on that moon? How did you end up here?" Steve pressed, trying to keep him from panicking.

"Thanos was…particularly interested in Hel. It seemed like he was trying to prove something to her, so he made me step away from Father…said he would kill Hel if I didn't do it. I had to…even though Father told me not to…I couldn't let him kill her."

_Oh, yeah, he's definitely your kid,_ Bucky's voice suddenly sounded in Steve's thoughts.

"It's okay, Fenrir. You did the right thing," Steve soothed him, taking one of his hands in his. "What happened when you did?"

"I…I just…I was here. He must have used a teleport spell. Hel and Jory…and Father…they might still be back in that terrible place," he said, looking like he might cry. "Father was already hurt so badly."

"It's all right. It's all right," Steve continued to soothe, finally pulling Fenrir into his arms. "If he just wanted to kill all of you, I'm pretty sure he would have done it. Your family's still alive, Fenrir, and wherever they are, we'll help you find them."

"You…you will?" he asked, looking up at Steve through red-rimmed eyes.

"Of course we will. No matter what kind of history we might have with Loki, I _am_ still your father. I'd like to be able to help you out."

Fenrir smiled gratefully at this, but before anything else could be said, Lily started to cry. Bucky immediately moved to the bassinet that was situated at the end of the couch, lifting his fussy daughter out of the nest of pink blankets she was cocooned in, trying to soothe her.

"Aw, what's wrong, princess?" he murmured as he rocked her. "Did we wake you?"

"Who's that?" Fenrir asked Steve, eyes fixed on the tiny baby.

"That's Lily. She's only a month old. She's…well…she's your baby sister."

"Really?" Fenrir asked, in awe of the little thing. The last baby he'd seen was Jory, and he honestly didn't remember that time too well.

"Really. She's mine and Bucky's daughter."

"So she's Hel's little sister, too?"

"Yeah, she is."

Fenrir couldn't seem to help smiling at this. "She'd like that. She's spent her whole life around men. She'd like having a baby sister."

"Well, hopefully she'll be able to meet her soon, then," Bucky said, smiling at him, even though Lily didn't seem to be anywhere near the end of her fit.

"Do…do you think…maybe I could hold her?" Fenrir asked, suddenly sounding shy.

Most of the others present were uncertain with this idea. Could they really trust Loki's son? Bucky and Steve didn't much time to deliberate on the matter, though. One look at each other and they both knew they already trusted him. He was no less their son than Mako or any of the other boys. They were all family…and if they were going to prove that to the others, then they had to take this step. So Bucky came and sat beside Fenrir on the couch.

"Do you see what I'm doing with my arms?" Bucky asked, starting to instruct Fenrir as he'd done with the rest of the pack. The boy carefully copied the cradle the former mercenary had made of his arms. "That's good. Make sure you support her head and her bottom when you're holding her," he continued as he passed the wriggling girl to her brother. Fenrir did exactly what he was told, beginning to rock the baby gently when he had a hold of her.

"Hello, Lily," he said softly, leaning down to nuzzle her forehead. "I guess you didn't know this, but you have an older brother…and I have a baby sister. It's nice to meet you."

At first, Lily kept right on wailing, but after a few minutes of being rocked in her big brother's arms, she began to settle down, finally drifting right off to sleep. Steve and Bucky smiled at each other over Fenrir's head. This was definitely a good first step.

XxX

Just because Bucky and Steve were willing to trust Fenrir, though, didn't quite mean that everyone else was ready to do so. As such, he didn't mind when Tony insisted it would be best that he be locked in his room at night. Of course they all knew such a thing wouldn't make difference if he was really Loki's son, but it was more the principle of the thing than anything else…the fact that he agreed to it.

Fen hadn't been under lockdown for more than an hour, though, when he heard the door beginning to unlock. He was prepared to defend himself when the intruders entered the room, but it turned out not to be necessary. It was the pack that had come to see him. He had met them all earlier, but there hadn't been a real chance to talk. Now he stared at them all…all nine of them.

"I thought…I was supposed to stay locked in for the night," he said quietly, looking between all of them individually.

"Nah, don't even worry about that," Phillip said. "My old man hasn't turned out a lock yet that I can't break down."

"We just wanted to see you," Rosie said. "The pack's pretty tight and, well…if you're Uncle Steve's kid…that makes you one of us."

"One of…you?" Fen repeated slowly.

"Uh, yeah, doi," Russ said. "Us kids of superheroes gotta stick together, after all."

"We wanted to welcome you," Balder said, coming forward to rest a hand on his shoulder. "You and your brother and sister…whenever we find them. Like Rosie said, you're all part of this family, too."

"Thank you," Fen said, not really sure how else to react. He, his siblings, and their father had known only each other all their lives, had depended on and trusted only each other, and he would be lying if he said he'd never felt even just a little lonely for other people. It was strange to him, to be so openly accepted like this…but he found he was liking it.

"By the by, how old are all of you?" Chase asked.

"Hel and I are seventeen and Jory is sixteen."

"Seventeen, huh? When's your birthday?" Howie asked.

"Ah…I believe it's…November 16th by your calendar," Fen answered, doing the calculations in his head.

"Oh, man, they're actually older than you, Balder," Fi couldn't help pointing out. "You're not the oldest."

"Maybe not, but that's…what? A three week difference? Not _that_ much older."

"Oh, Hel will absolutely hold those three weeks over you. She will never let you forget who the oldest is," Fen said, shaking his head.

"Well, if she wants to be in charge of this pack, that's just fine with me," Balder said, crossing his arms and turning away from them. "Who wants to take care of a bunch of whining kids who aren't even grateful when their big brother looks out for them."

"Aw, but you love us anyway, right big bro," Rosie said, flinging her arms around his waist.

As the two started in on some kind of mock wrestle match, Noelle came to sit beside Fen on the bed.

"Don't worry about them. They'll work it out in the next few minutes here. We really are happy to have you here."

"I like being here," he said, offering her a weak smile. He had no idea what would happen when he was finally reunited with his family, but for now, it was nice to meet this other side of his family he hadn't really known existed. It was nice to be welcomed.

XxX

He's thrown back by the explosion…feels the sudden rush of cold air as the side of the compartment is torn away. He sees the HYDRA goon move in for another shot.

_I know this._

He knows what will happen…knows how this ends…but despite knowing, he's powerless to resist the event. Steve's behind him and the shield is in front of him. He knows how this ends, but he goes for it anyway. He can't not.

"Bucky!" he hears Steve calling to him as he grabs the shield, holding it up in front of them and firing at their opponent…but then the man takes another shot, which slams into the shield.

The shield takes the blow, but he isn't strong enough to wield the shield. The impact completely blows him away…

…and Bucky woke up in his bed with a shout.

Steve was awake at his side in seconds, a hand at his shoulder.

"Are you all right?" he asked, reaching forward to brush aside his sweat-soaked hair. "Was it another nightmare?"

"N-no," he muttered, breathing hard. "Not…not exactly."

"What was it?"

"It…it happened again," he whispered. "I was on the train. I don't think I was dreaming. I was _really there,_ " he hissed, clinging to the hand at his shoulder. He was well familiar with bad dreams; of course he was…but these were different. It had happened twice in the last five months. It wasn't just a nightmare or a flashback. He had actually _been_ there, on the train…the moment he was about to fall.

"Well…you're here now," Steve soothed him, pulling him into his arms.

"Do you think…maybe it has something to do with Fenrir…with why he's here?" Bucky mused, leaning into his husband's embrace.

"It might. We may be able to get some more answers from Loki when he comes…'cuz if he's in one piece, he'll definitely come for Fen. Probably he'll know more about what's happening."

After several minutes of just letting Steve hold him, Bucky began to chuckle softly, glancing toward Lily's cradle. "Y'know, I can't believe she slept through that."

"Heh, she'll surprise you. I'm certainly not gonna complain. In fact, if you feel ready, we should probably take advantage of that and get back to sleep ourselves."

"Yeah, you're right," Bucky said, lying back down with Steve and cuddling up close to him, hoping that he might be able to sleep through the night.

XxX

It was about a week later that two teenagers helped a man dressed in a long dark coat limp his way into a seedy motel. By the time the three had reached their room, the man couldn't maintain the illusion anymore. As his magic fell away, the scene became Loki lying on a bed, still beaten to a bloody pulp and dressed in his ragged green robes. Hel and Jory sat beside him, both still bathed in the blood from their fight on the prison moon. They had used what little magic they were able to on their father, had tried to convince him to find a healer, but Loki Laufeyson would not be deterred.

In ideal conditions, it would have taken him no more than a day to reach Earth, but injured as he was, it had taken the whole week to manage it without killing himself…and he certainly would have been willing to push himself that far with Thanos' threat hanging over their heads.

" _Now_ will you find a healer, Father?" Hel asked, her voice tipped with anger. "It won't help Fen if you die."

"It might," he said, voice thick with pain. "I must rest tonight. In the morning, we must go to your father."

"My father?" Hel repeated, the anger in her voice starting to rise. " _You're_ my father."

Loki turned to look at his daughter then, something close to desperation in his eyes. "Hel, please do not pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about. Things have changed. We need their help."

"Why do we need their help now? We've never needed them before."

"That was before," he said, reaching up a trembling hand to brush aside her dark curls. "Before…I would not risk it…but now there is nothing I won't dare. We _need_ them on our side…so I _need_ you to stand with me…and not question what has to be done."

"Father," Jory suddenly broke in, "what did Thanos mean…when he said he was going to undo what had been done?"

"Not now, Jory," Loki said softly. "I'll tell you…when we know Fen's safe." Then, almost before he'd managed to finish speaking, Loki had fallen into a deep, much needed sleep, leaving his children sitting on either side of him looking worried.

"What do you think will happen…when we face them?" Jory asked his sister.

"I don't know…but given their history, I cannot foresee it being anything good, especially if they have Fen. I'll keep watch until midnight; then I'll wake you. We'll both need sleep. We'll need to be able to fight if Father cannot."

XxX

All things being even, it seemed to be a relatively normal day when Tony Stark emerged into his workshop. After the house in Malibu was destroyed, he'd repurposed one of the R&D levels of Stark Tower into his personal workshop, where he could retreat when life with the super family got too crazy. Even though Fenrir was actually turning out to be an okay kid, having Loki's spawn living among them could certainly be counted as too crazy.

"Sir, I'm afraid my security protocols are being overridden. I-" JARVIS' voice suddenly sounded before being cut off.

"JARVIS?" Tony called out, immediately on high alert. There were only a handful of people who could shut the AI down and with things the way they were right now-

"Hello, Mr. Stark."

Tony nearly gave himself whiplash turning to face the direction the voice had come from. When he was facing the door he'd just come through, he found himself face to face with Loki and two others. The billionaire couldn't quite help the two steps back he took.

"Fuck me, but you do love to make an entrance," he muttered just before summoning his armor to him. He was battle ready in only a minute. Loki smirked at the display.

"My, my, my, all this for little me?"

"More than you might think, pal. If I summon my armor in the tower, a silent alarm automatically goes out to any other Avengers or agents in the building. JARVIS doesn't need to be up for it to work. They'll be here soon."

"Excellent. I was hoping to have a group discussion."

Just as Tony had predicted, within minutes Loki and his companions were surrounded. Steve, Bucky, Clint, Natasha, Maria, Darcy, Thor, Fandral, Mako, and Sam had all answered the alarm. All were ready for a fight.

"Don't I even get a hello?" Loki asked with a sardonic sneer. "It's been so long, after all."


	4. Can You Hear it Sing?

Loki's dangerously chipper attitude didn't last very long once he was surrounded by guns. As Hel drew her twin swords and Jory readied his throwing knives, Loki raised his hands in supplication to all of them.

"Come now, are the weapons really necessary? I've only come for a chat, after all."

"We'll drop ours if they drop theirs," Bucky said, though he couldn't quite keep his eyes off the dark-haired young girl standing at the trickster's side.

"All right, if you insist," he said, taking a moment to nod at Hel and Jory. They hesitated for a moment, but finally did as requested.

"And the spell, Loki. I can _feel_ that illusion magic," Bucky snarled.

Loki stared at him a moment, his eyes hardening with anger, but he ultimately held out his arms. Hel and Jory immediately moved in to support him. As they did, the illusion fell away and the liesmith was laid bare, nearly destroyed and unable to keep his own feet. As his children lowered him to the floor, he glared at Bucky.

"Where is my son… _little soldier?_ " he demanded, his features growing fowler by the minute.

"Loki-" Thor started, moving to approach his brother, but Steve held up a warning hand.

"Don't get close. Don't touch him. Mako?"

"Yes?"

"Would you please go and get Fen and Fi? Bring them up here. Make sure Eve keeps the others away."

"Yes, Sir," Mako said, deferring to his father's position in this crisis situation. Almost before anyone could blink, he was gone.

" _Our_ son is safe, Loki. He's been treated like one of the family while he's been with us. We would _never_ harm him."

"I didn't…imagine that you would. I only wanted to know that he reached here safely. Fenrir was ripped from my side a week ago…and I've been _mad_ with worry ever since. I didn't come here…to start a fight. All of that is long done. I came here because…we have a common enemy."

"Maybe it's long done for _you,_ Loki, but for some of us, it'll _never_ be done. Don't think you can just waltz in here and expect us to help you," Bucky growled. He kept his gun lowered, but they both knew that was practically useless. Between them, they could destroy the tower a hundred times over with nothing but their minds.

"It's not me I'm asking you to help," Loki said, the anger in his eyes draining away to be replaced by pain. "You will see."

"So what were you doing on a prison moon that you had to have babes come rescue you?" Fandral asked, voice full of contempt.

Before either teen could protest being called a babe, Loki sat up a little straighter, hissing in pain as he struggled to speak. "I _didn't_ ask them to rescue me. I wanted them to stay away. All this time we have tried to stay hidden from Thanos. I had each of them choose a safe location that I knew nothing of…so that they might stay safe if I should ever be captured. But when I _was_ captured, the fool-headed little things came after me, even after I _told_ them not to," he said, glancing between Hel and Jory. "It was what Thanos had planned. He wanted them…not me."

"Why?" Thor asked.

Before Loki could say more, though, Fenrir suddenly came bursting into the workshop.

"Father!" he shouted, immediately rushing toward his family. Even though it clearly pained him, Loki embraced his son.

"Are you all right? Are you all right?" the trickster asked several times, holding him close as his injuries allowed.

"I'm fine. What about you all? Have you not seen a healer?"

"That shouldn't be necessary," Thor said, leading his daughter toward the small family, who looked frightened by the amount of blood she was seeing. Fi managed to swallow her fear, though.

"Who…who's hurt?" she asked.

"Just him," Hel answered, nodding at her father. "We just…have not bathed since out last battle."

"This is…your dad, Fen?"

Fenrir smiled at the ten-year-old, holding his hand out to her. "It is. Do you think you can help?"

Once again, Fi looked at Loki. "I'll try. I've never seen anything this bad before."

"That's all we're asking."

Nodding, Fiona came to them, kneeling beside Loki and laying her hands on his arm. Then she began to sing.

_This love, it is a distant star_

_Guiding us home wherever we are._

_This love, it is a burning sun_

_Shining light on the things that we've done._

_I try to speak to you every day_

_But each word we spoke, the wind blew away._

As she sang, Loki watched her power dance along his skin in amazement. With each note, a slash wound would begin to knit itself back together. Bruises faded until they were nothing.

_Could these walls come crumbling down?_

_I want to feel my feet on the ground_

_And leave behind this prison we share._

_Step into the open air._

_How did we let it come to this?_

_What we just tasted we somehow still miss._

_How will it feel when this day is done_

_And can we keep what we've only begun?_

It wasn't just the surface wounds, either. He could also feel the internal injuries healing…broken bones resituating themselves and mending, new blood flowing in his veins. He didn't know that he had ever seen such power…but he could also see that the effort was beginning to tire her.

_And now these walls come crumbling down_

_And I can feel my feet on the ground._

_Can we carry this love that we share_

_Into the open air?_

_Into the open air?_

_Into the open air?_

_This love, it is a burning sun._

Then, as the last note left her lips, Fiona shuddered in exhaustion and collapsed into Fenrir's arms. Loki reached forward, unable to help worrying for the little girl.

"Fiona!" Thor cried out, rushing forward to take his daughter from Fenrir.

"She is all right," Loki said softly. "She's only exhausted herself."

"Fi?" Thor called, gently cradling the girl's much smaller body in his large arms. "Fi, can you hear me?" He breathed a sigh of relief when her eyes fluttered open.

"Dad? I did good, yeah?" she asked, weakly reaching a hand up to tangle her fingers in his long hair: a habit left over from when she was a baby.

"Yes. Yes, you did very well, my little princess. Rest now," he said, kissing her forehead. Almost immediately, she dropped off to sleep, a tired smile on her face.

"Fen, do you think you could take Fi back down with the others?" Steve asked his son.

"Of course," he said, reaching to take the little girl back into his arms.

"Hel, Jory, go with them," Loki ordered as he climbed to his feet, amazed to find that he was in fact completely healed.

"But Father-" Hel started to argue.

"No arguments. We will speak later, but now I must talk to them."

Hel looked ready to fight, but finally she just growled and followed after her twin. Jory was close behind them. Loki actually smiled once they'd gone.

"Oh, she is your daughter, James. Stubborn as the day is long and the night is dark."

Bucky just glared at the trickster. "Yeah, we are _not_ having that conversation. Let's start with why you wanted those kids in the first place."

Loki raised an eyebrow at this. "Interesting place to begin."

"What you needed from both me and Steve…them. Why? Somehow I doubt it's because you just wanted kids. You've got a plan for them. What is it?"

At this, Loki looked almost…guilty…or at least Bucky would think so if he didn't think him incapable of such an emotion. "That _was_ true…a long time ago, but things are different now."

"Even if it's not true, which I don't believe, by the way, what _was_ it?"

"The Norns spoke a prophecy a long time ago…when I was born. It is said that the children of Loki will bring about Ragnarok…the ending times. They shall be the kith of many realms and they will have power the Trickster knows not. Though they be the seeds of destruction, they also be the light of redemption."

"And…what does that mean?" Tony asked.

"It means that Hel, Fenrir, and Jormungand have a destiny upon them," Thor said. "It seems it is their fate to bring about the time of Ragnarok…the ending of all things. Though…it seems to me the last part may suggest they can either end creation or save it."

"It was only the destruction part I was interested in when I first heard the prophecy. The children of Loki…it didn't matter to me who the other side of the coin was and I had two perfectly suitable specimens on hand, so the part about them being the kith of many realms is true."

"Kith?" Sam tried to clarify.

"It means kin, family group…community," Fandral tried to explain.

"Yes, the twins are both part Midgardian, part Jotunn," Loki said.

"What about Jory?" Steve asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Who's Jory's other parent? Is he part Asgardian? Part human? All Jotunn? What?"

"Jory is the son of none of your business," Loki snapped at him.

"Ah, no, at this point I think it definitely might be our business," Maria said.

"My last child is part Asgardian, if you must know. I will give you no more than that. The point here is that…as they grew, I came to care less and less about what their destiny is. They are simply…my children…and I would wish to preserve the reality in which they are. Others have not forgotten what they are, though. It seems Thanos means to use them to paint his own ending to Ragnarok. That was why he wanted them."

"Then why did he send Fenrir away? Why did he let you go so easy?" Natasha asked.

"He didn't. He would have kept Hel and Jory had I not teleported away…nearly killed myself doing it. Why he sent Fen to you, I couldn't guess. I only know that he has goals here on Earth."

"What sort of goals?" Clint asked.

At this, Loki looked to Bucky once more. "Have you ever felt like you are not…all here? Not like you're going crazy, I mean, but…as if you were vanishing?"

For a moment, Steve and Bucky glanced at each other in shock. They had both felt it. Almost since they had been reunited, they had both experienced moments of feeling that Bucky wasn't completely real…like he was somehow slipping away…and now there had been these dreams that were not dreams…as if he were slipping back into the past.

"Yes," Bucky finally answered.

"And have you been reliving the moment I pulled you out of time?" Loki pressed, beginning to look anxious.

"Yes…only it wasn't just flashbacking. It was like I was really there again."

"You were."

"How's that possible?" Steve asked, eyes hardening, fighting not to show his worry.

"It's Thanos' doing. He is threatening."

"Threatening _what?_ " Steve pressed.

"He is threatening to undo the time shift I effected twenty years ago. If he carries out this threat, it means I will never have brought you forward in time. This timeline would be undone."

"You mean I wouldn't…become the Winter Soldier?" Bucky asked, uncertain how he felt about that.

"No, you would still become the Winter Soldier. It is always James Barnes' fate to become the Winter Soldier. More troublesome, though, if these events are undone…then Hel and Fenrir are never born…perhaps even Jory and the rest of the children."

"Not…born?" Bucky repeated, looking to Steve in shock. To have the lives of their children _erased_ …just like that? It was harder to imagine anything more horrible…but he could see in his mind that Steve already _had_ imagined something just as bad. If the timeline were erased, they would lose each _other_. Their love would never have a chance to blossom.

 _No!_ he insisted to Steve in thought, to comfort him as much as himself. _I don't believe that! We would have found each other somehow._

"Hold up," Natasha started. "If he needs them to bring about Ragnarok, why would he risk them not existing?"

"The prophecy states the children of Loki. It does not say Hel, Fenrir, and Jormungand. If that is fate's design, it does not matter whom I bear children by. No matter how the timeline plays out, I will have children. It doesn't matter to Thanos who those children are. As for myself, I would just as soon not lose my sons and daughter. I take it the lot of you feel the same," he said, looking around the circle.

"So why is it he's only threatening? Why hasn't he just…done it already?" Steve asked, feeling himself shiver at the thought of losing Bucky all over again.

"He is threatening because his goal here is the two of you," Loki stated, again looking between Bucky and Steve.

"Of course," Bucky groaned, running his fingers through his hair in exasperation. "Why?"

"Because he means to use you to enter the Underworld."

This caused a moment of silence, which was finally broken when Darcy started in with, "Okay…now I'm just confused. How and why are these two gonna open a door to the Underworld?"

"The how of it, I do not know. The why of it…Thanos means to enter the Underworld in order to claim the final Infinity Stone from the queen of the dead."

"Ah…Infinity Stone? Might wanna clarify on that one," Sam said.

"You haven't told them about the Infinity Stones? Really?" Loki asked Thor.

"It did not…seem to be a matter that concerned the Earth," the thunderer answered, looking away from them.

"Concerned? Heh, well, does it concern them now, _Brother?_ " Loki jabbed, crossing his arms in expectation.

"Thor…please," Steve requested when the silence continued to stretch.

"In my father's weapons vault, there is an ancient artifact…something that is said to have come from before time…the Infinity Gauntlet," Thor finally began to explain. "It is said that the gauntlet was the tool used to create this reality, but in the moment of creation, its powers were scattered to the far reaches of the realms in many forms. If these six powers, these Infinity Stones, are ever brought together and placed within the gauntlet once more, the person who controls the gauntlet will have control over all of creation. It would seem that this is Thanos' ultimate goal."

"So there's one stone in the Underworld. Where are the other five?" Maria asked.

"Thanos is in control of two of them already: the Akasha and the Eterna. The Eterna gives him power over time. It is what allowed me to pull you out of time before," Loki said to Bucky. "And you are not unfamiliar with the second. The Akasha is what they call the Soul Gem. It grants power over souls. It is what powered my staff during the Chitauri War…and allowed me to awaken your latent power."

"No, that…that was the Tesseract," Bucky said slowly, remembering what Tony had told him about the arc reactor he'd created for him.

"Mm, yes, I imagine all of you would think so, being as the Tesseract is the only Infinity Stone you're familiar with."

"Hold up. The Tesseract's an Infinity Stone?" Tony asked.

"Yes. It grants power over space. It would allow Thanos to enter the Underworld. The stones may be used against one another, but they may draw on one another as well, which will be made much easier when he gains the Aether, the stone of power, which I imagine he is doing at this very moment."

"Where's that?" Clint asked.

"The Aether was left with a being called the Collector after the Svartalfheim Incident," Fandral told them. "Surely it's not that easy to take it from him."

"Oh, no?" Loki asked, raising an eyebrow. "It was easy enough for him to reclaim the Akasha from Nova Corps when it was stolen from him. If he doesn't have the Aether already, he will soon enough. Before the last, that leaves only the Fylgja."

"And where is that?" Mako asked.

"On Asgard, of course."

"That isn't so," Thor said. "Father would never keep two of the stones together."

"Wrong. He would never keep three of them together. The Fylgja has been on Asgard far longer than the Tesseract has. It is kept safe…with Heimdall."

"Heimdall?"

"Oh, Odin didn't tell you about that? No, I don't suppose he would. Why do you think the gatekeeper has such immense powers of sight? It's because the Fylgja is bonded with him. It allows him to see into the minds of others. If Thanos can lay waste to Asgard, he will have gained two more stones, including the one that will allow him access to the last."

"And what stone's that?" Natasha asked.

"The most powerful of them all. The Absolute. It grants power over reality itself. Without the other stones to temper it, it could prove dangerous for any wielder to use. Its great power is why it was said to have been placed in the keeping of the queen of the dead when time began…to place it beyond the hands of the living…and Thanos means to lay siege to Death itself."

"All right…so how are our capsicle and Frosty the snowman gonna help him do that?" Tony asked.

"Higher beings cannot enter the realm of Death and hope to emerge unscathed. Thanos himself cannot enter, nor can any of the armies he commands. A human could manage it, though," Loki said, looking around at all of them once again. "A human is a low enough form of life not to be spiritually destroyed by walking alive through the gates of Death. The only trouble is that such an act would kill a human. It becomes necessary, then, to use one that is enhanced."

"A super soldier," Steve said, finally putting the pieces together.

"Just so. This is what Grigori Dreykoff was attempting to create eighteen years ago, a unit of advanced Midgardians who would be able to storm the Underworld and claim the Absolute for him. It was also for this purpose that the Winter Soldier was originally created. Currently, though, Thanos is only in possession of six enhanced human soldiers."

"The three he took from 2R," Natasha said slowly.

"And Schmidt and his two followers…Alrik and Skadi," Steve added. "But what sort of body does he have now. As I recall, he was renting space with Alrik when they left."

"Skadi and Alrik were not idle after that. They…created…another host for their master. When Skadi conceived, he inhabited the developing child."

"That's so disgusting," Steve muttered, realizing that his old enemy had essentially murdered another human soul with such an act.

"Even so, six soldiers isn't enough. He wants the two of you…and any other enhanced humans he can collect."

"Me and Belle," Mako said quietly.

"Phil and Marian," Maria murmured.

"Sinthea and Chase," Darcy said, her normally bright eyes going dark.

"What about somebody with extremis enhancements?" Tony pressed, starting to look unnerved himself.

"Yes, I imagine your wife and son would suit his purposes quite well. Many of your children would…someone who is part Asgardian, for example," Loki said, glancing at Thor and Fandral.

"So how can we stop this guy?" Sam was the one to finally ask.

"Sadly, that is not my area of expertise. I should think Earth's mightiest would be able to come up with a plan for that. Saving reality is not my concern, though. I came here to help you save my own children. _Our_ children," the trickster said, looking to Steve and Bucky yet again. "That is how he plans to claim your service…the threat to undo the time shift. If you do not serve him, he will reverse it."

"And just how do you plan on stopping him doing that?" Steve asked.

"I can still prevent him using the power of the Eterna…by using the Tesseract."

"A, we don't have the Tesseract, and B, there's no way in hell Odin's letting you use it," Clint pointed out.

"Oh, but you _do_ have the Tesseract…or at least you have a piece of it," Loki reminded them, looking to Bucky, more specifically to the ring of blue glowing in his chest.

Again, Bucky looked to Steve, speaking to him through their psychic link.

_If we do it…we could save the kids._

_Maybe…but remember what Mimir warned us about. If the Asgardians find out, they'll pull the power altogether. To save them…I'd lose you._

"They won't find out, if that's what you're afraid of," Loki said, his smirk plainly telling them he knew what they'd been discussing. "Heimdall cannot see us right now. Besides, I imagine Asgard will be concerned with greater matters when Thor tells them of the impending danger."

"Wait just a minute. How exactly did you know all this anyway?" Maria asked him.

"Why do you think I've been hiding all these years? Most of this I knew twenty years ago. I haven't been idle in hiding either. I've learned things. What I didn't know…until Thanos showed me…was how my own children were involved in it. That is what forced me to seek you out. So what do you say? Are we in agreement…or aren't we?"

For yet another long moment, there was silence among the group. Ultimately, they all looked to Steve to make the call, though, and he finally did look up at their long time enemy, blue eyes hard with his resolve.

"All right. We'll work with you for now, but if you put one _toe_ out of line, we won't hesitate to kill you."

At this, Loki smiled. "Oh, but I have missed this."

XxX

While their parents were dealing with Loki, the pack was, of course, getting acquainted with its newest members. Hel and Jory, however, were not quite as enthusiastic as their brother had been.

"My god, what are they doing up there?" Balder demanded in a worried voice as he took his sister from Fenrir's arms, moving to lay her out on one of the couches and cover her with a blanket.

"Father says she'll be fine; she just tired herself out. He was…very badly injured," Fenrir said.

"Oh, so now we're running clinics for megalomaniacs?" Phillip jibed.

"Phillip," Balder warned, not yet looking up from his task

"Don't talk about my father that way!" Hel snapped at him.

"Hel, please, he doesn't mean it," Fenrir said, glancing pleadingly at the younger boy.

"Oh, I mean it. I'm not sure if I believe you're Loki's daughter, though. You're way too hot," Phillip said, smirking at the older girl. Hel wasn't quite certain if this little boy was worth getting insulted over.

Russ rolled her eyes at her partner's display. "Please don't flirt with the Loki spawn. She'll go right past sexual harassment and just straight up kill your ass, and I promise you, I'm just going to sit here and watch."

Hel just growled at the Stark spawn. While it was true that the daughter of Loki and James Barnes was quite beautiful, she tended to only use that to her advantage if she absolutely _had_ to. Now was not such a time.

"All right, baby human, listen and listen well-"

"Please," Balder suddenly interrupted the lot of them, finally looking up from his little sister. "We don't need to be fighting amongst ourselves. Our parents are trying to-"

The young prince fell silent when his gaze fell on Hel. He had heard of love at first sight, but he'd never believed it. He'd always thought when he met the person he was supposed to be with, they would build a relationship on mutual trust and understanding. He'd never expected to be swept away. He was a very levelheaded young man, well aware of all the responsibilities he was burdened with. All of his expectations were washed away when he saw Hel Lokidottir for the first time. Even covered in blood, ragged from days of travel and little sleep, she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

While Hel was not nearly as dumbstruck as the Thorson, she was left feeling somewhat…bewildered by the gaze. She had been ogled before, certainly, so she knew what that looked like. She knew it when men and women desired her body. There was something different in this boy's eyes, though. There was a hint of that carnal desire, yes, but there was something more she didn't recognize…something that seemed like…warmth and sincerity. Why was he looking at her like that?

"What light through yonder window breaks," Balder whispered.

"Excuse me?" Hel asked, completely unfamiliar with the words.

Finally, Balder shook his head, struggling to clear it. "Oh, sorry…so sorry. I meant to say…maybe you and your brother would like to take a shower. I can let you use mine."

"Balder, you know my dad doesn't want us leaving this room," Eve reminded him.

"I know. Don't worry about it. I promise we won't go upstairs, just down the hall."

"Well, I suppose I can take a promise from you at face value. Go ahead, but come right back when you're done."

At this, Balder started to lead the two out of the living room. It was almost a shock he didn't run into the door frame on his way out, as he kept glancing back at Hel, whose face actually seemed to be reddening beneath the layer of dried blood.

"Oh, my god. Did you _see_ that?" Noelle demanded of all of them once the three had gone. The oldest Ross was up on her toes dancing, practically squeeing.

"I was honestly starting to think the man was just asexual," Phillip said, barely managing to hold back a chuckle.

"What? What happened?" Fenrir asked them. He knew he'd never seen his older twin quite so off balance like that, but he still couldn't quite grasp what had happened.

"Balder is totally crushing on your sister," Rosie said, just as excited as her own sister.

"Well, Hel _is_ rather attractive. A lot of people have been interested in her."

"No, you're not getting it. Balder has never shown interest in _anyone,_ male or female. This is _huge,_ " Russ explained.

"What do you think he'll do when he's got her naked in the shower?" Phillip asked, leering at his partner.

"I almost wanna go find out," Russ said.

"Don't you dare," Chase said, getting indignant on Balder's behalf. "Balder would never do anything impolite to a lady. He'd be the perfect gentleman."

"I would not go so far as to call my sister a lady," Fenrir said, rolling his eyes.

"Chase is probably right, though. Balder would have to relax for more than five minutes to get his play and that would be more or less a miracle," Howie added.

"Yeah, that's true. Though…you're really not worried about him making any moves on your sister?" Marian asked Fenrir.

"Oh, I am not worried about _anyone_ making moves on Hel. If she wants the attention, she'll enjoy it quite well, and if she doesn't…she can take care of herself."

XxX

Had the figure known as the Collector been able to hear Fandral say it shouldn't be that easy to take something from him, he would have made the argument that it wasn't a matter of ease or difficulty. He didn't view his collection as something to be protected and anything that happened to go missing from it was not stolen. The collection was nebulous, it shifted from day to day, and things would come into his possession and leave as they were meant to. As such, he was not at all surprised on the day a group of three entered his shop dragging the body of his latest assistant.

"Did you really have to kill him?" he asked, not looking up from the scroll he was pouring over. "Skoll was such a hard worker." Nearly before he'd finished speaking, he felt a gun pressed to the back of his head.

"The power stone, old man. Where is it?" a voice demanded, and the Collector was intrigued to find that the voice was young, but at the same time _sounded_ old. If nothing else, Thanos drew an interesting following to him.

"Far wall, center row, the chest two from the left," he answered casually.

"Fetch it," the voice ordered one of his associates.

"So which associate so honors me with his presence today?"

"I have had so many names, it seems. The only one that truly matters anymore is the Red Skull."

"Ah, I should have known. Is it true what they say? That you over a hundred years old?"

"Quite a bit over…and yet the body is a mere sixteen years of age. Amazing is it not."

 _No, not really. Not for someone of_ _ **my**_ _age and experience, but I will humor you, little skull._ "So old for one of your race…and yet so very young. Might I be permitted to glimpse your face, fortunate favorite of the War Lord?"

At this, he finally felt the gun lifted away, indicating to him that he could turn and look, and what he found upon swiveling around in his chair was a rather interesting sight.

There were two pale figures, a man and a woman, so far as he could tell. They were more than just pale, though. Their skin was stark white…a complete absence of color. Where human eyes would have been white, theirs were yellow. These two very imposing figures were led by a boy. He would have looked like a regular human boy were it not for the tattoo-like red lines that adorned his face and arms. His long brown hair was shaggy and unkempt and his eyes were also yellow, but where his compatriots had only black for irises, his were a bright red. The boy turned his head sideways and grinned eerily at him. The Collector just chuckled, his eyes dark.

"Heheh, a demon in a child's body. Fitting for a war against Death."

The dead child joined him in laughing as he holstered his weapon. "Who else would you send to fight an angel but a demon?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you're ready, 'cuz we're in this for the long haul.


End file.
